wfn.org | World Council of Churches to cut back drastically on expenditure

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Note #7413 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

03-September-2002
02337
    
World Council of Churches to cut back drastically on expenditure 

by Stephen Brown  
Ecumenical News International

Geneva - The World Council of Churches, the world's biggest ecumenical organization, is to cut its spending back drastically in the face of predictions of significantly reduced income.   

"We are in a crisis. Let's be frank and straightforward," said Catholicos Aram I, moderator of the WCC's central committee, on Tuesday.  

"We are called to struggle and grapple with this crisis," Aram told the central committee, the WCC's main governing body. "We have to face this situation honestly, seriously and always together."  

A four-person task group is to review staff, programs, activities and infrastructure costs and present proposals by the end of October for cutting expenditure.  

The WCC finance committee presented to the central committee meeting in Geneva a report saying that staffing costs "must be considerably reduced since this is the principal expenditure". But no figure for the cut was suggested. The WCC currently has about 180 staff at its Geneva headquarters.  

The report called for rapid decisions "in order that costs not trail into 2003" and cautioned that "delay would result in the need to increase the number of reductions in staff."  

Seeking to save both jobs and programs, a separate report from the WCC's program committee suggested such cost-saving measures as using "seconded" staff from member churches for some tasks, contracting out for some services and using less expensive workers, such as interns, retired staff members and "voluntary missionaries."

Other measures that could be explored, the committee added, were shorter and less frequent meetings, smaller committees, the contribution of frequent flyer miles and the possibility of corporate or private funding of WCC events.  

The central committee agreed to cut the WCC's projected expenditure for 2003 from an initial figure of CHF 47 million (about US$32 million) to CHF 40.4 million.   

It was told that income projections for next year had been revised downwards from CHF 47 to CHF 41.7 million.  

The WCC finance committee also reported that in the first six months of 2002 the ecumenical body had a deficit of CHF2.5 million, mainly due to investment losses.  

Income from contributions was also being estimated at CHF1.3 million less than budgeted.  

To bring the target results back in line with the budget, it was planned to cut expenditure in 2002 by CHF 2.7 million.   

The central committee also agreed contingency plans to take out a mortgage of CHF 5.3 million against the WCC's headquarters in Geneva.  

But it set down strict guidelines about how this credit line could be used "with a firm recommendation to avoid use of the facility by all means possible".  

Anders Gadegaard, the vice-moderator of the WCC finance committee, said his committee did not "expect this credit line to be used at all".  

But up to CHF1.75 million could be used in a "worst case" scenario if the plan to reduce expenditure in 2002 "were not successfully implemented to its full amount", the finance committee reported.  

The proposal brought a warning from Dr David Thompson, an adviser to the central committee from Britain.   

Thompson said the mortgage recommendation more than any other indicated the "dire state" of the WCC's finances.  

Thompson said the possibility now existed that "part of the building in which we sit" would have to be sold.  

He said the financial credibility of the WCC "is part of its credibility to its member churches".   
"Some dislike this kind of emphasis on financial management," he said. "But it is only when one has one's own house in order that one is able to act."   
Many delegates expressed concern about the WCC's financial situation and about the failure of many of its member churches to make any financial contribution to the ecumenical body.  

"For the last 10 years we have been hearing about the financial situation," said Bishop Zacharias Mar Theophilus of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar. "Now we are going to face reality."  

The situation was "more catastrophic perhaps than any of us can imagine," said Bishop Hans Gerny of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland.  

Even very large churches "with representatives in high positions *whose churches and lifestyles do not look poor" made no contribution to the WCC's finances, he said, without naming any churches.  

Robert Christeler, the WCC's director of finance, services and administration cautioned against using the world "crisis" but said the situation would "turn into a crisis if we do not act".  

He said problems had begun to emerge from 2000 onwards largely due to elements outside the WCC's control, such as falling stock markets around the world.  

Still, Dr Gottfried Locher, a member of the finance committee from Switzerland, said that the WCC was in a "very deep financial crisis" and needed more than "cosmetic changes."  

Dr Konrad Raiser, the WCC's general secretary, noted that the WCC had "tried hard to resist" the practices of the commercial world, where success was judged on the ability to cut costs by dismissing staff.  

Citing one of the causes of the WCC's money problem, Raiser said many member churches had failed to honor financial pledges.  

Raiser said it was "absolutely impossible to establish a [financial] planning cycle ... if you cannot rely on the simplest pledge from your constituency."  

Member churches accepting their responsibility would be a "major step out of this crisis" said Raiser.   

1.00 Swiss franc (CHF) = 0.6793 US dollar   
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